I know I’m stepping into it here, but in large institutions there are policies that govern what to do; who to tell and when to tell about any situation involving inappropriate sexual behavior by a staff member. Those policies usually define “moral turpitude”. It sounds to me as though McQueery and Paterno followed the letter of the policy. Each reported what they knew to their immediate superiors. McQueery told Paterno and Paterno told the President of Penn State. Paterno could only report what he heard - second hand information. Once an employee makes a report under the policy, the employee is bound to say nothing and is forbidden to undertake any investigation unless directed to do so by his / her boss. The state of Pennsylvania has cleared Paterno - he is not a suspect or a subject of any investigation. Where the chain of care fell apart was with the AD office and the President. If there was any effort to cover up or hide anything, the responsibility seems to rest there. I’ve had to initiate two “moral turpitude” investigations - both based on second hand information. One turned out one way; the other turned out the exact opposite. In both situations the last conversation I had about the incidents was with my boss who gave me verbal and written orders to say nothing to anyone and to discuss the situations with no one unless requested to do so by law enforcement. Those orders limited me but they also protected me, especially in the situations where the employee was cleard of all charges because had I blabbered about it an innocent person’s reputation would have been ruined and I would have been sued into poverty. In turpitude cases all information flows uphill, never downhill, so for all Paterno knew the administration had investigated and responded appropriately. Paterno likely received no formal feedback on the outcome. That’s how it works. What happened is horrible - no argument there. There’s some evidence in news stories that Paterno was suspicious about Sandusky’s foundation and the amount of time he spent there - to the point of giving Sandusky and ultimatum to coach or go run the foundation.
Well said. In a lot of large companies you even report it to third party and they pass the info to the appropriate internal investigators.
Excellent post.
I maintain, however, that McQueery needed to do something on the spot.
Apparently you have not read Pennsylvania law. The law give specific permission for anyone involved to report it to the authorities regardless of other actions taken.
That's how it works in a cover-up. Never any formal feedback. Spanier tells Schultz to take care of it and Schultz says 'done'.
Paterno sees that this child molester has continued access to bring boys into the locker room and looks the other way since he knows it has been properly investigated and responded to appropriately.